Seven Revolutions

Have you considered how a global population of 9 billion people by the middle of the century will impact your life? What are the challenges for the availability of food, water, and energy resources? How will society balance the benefits of technological innovation and advanced communication with the threat of cyber security? How will global economic integration and governance affect trade, markets, and commerce overall?

To answer questions like these, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) embarked on an initiative in 1992 to address and analyze the key policy challenges that policymakers, business figures, and other leaders will face out to the year 2035 & beyond. It is an effort to promote strategic thinking about the long-term trends that too few take the time to consider. Though our research is constantly evolving, we created this guide as a snapshot for what we call the Seven Revolutions.

The key points of this research have been captured in an exciting, fast-paced, multimedia presentation that has been given around the world—from governments to private corporations to academia to nongovernmental organizations. Seven Revolutions is constantly updated to reflect the latest data analysis and available technologies. It is an effective tool for pushing audiences to think outside of their areas of expertise and beyond their familiar planning parameters.

In exploring the world of 2035, the seven areas of change we have identified are:

The goal of the Class of 2025 Initiative is to visualize different Americas—good, bad, and ugly—and develop concrete approaches and strategies on how to maximize the position of the United States in a rapidly changing world.